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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. rash — hasty
  3. field — for sport
  4. field — farmland
  5. rash — a series
  6. hand — in cards
  7. scale — size or range
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. field — a subject
  10. roll — a cake
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. scale — in music
  13. game — wild animals
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. row — to paddle
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. game — a match
  19. tube — a container
  20. hand — help
  21. row — a line
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. tube — the underground
  24. row — a quarrel

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com